Wednesday Storylines

The major storyline of course is last night’s flip – the vaunted rebounds were nowhere in evidence and we were treated to a loss, courtesy of the Tony Parker revenge. This probably sets up the return of the Mamba nicely – there’s been some talk of him returning tonight against the Warriors, although it’s more probable that he’ll wait until round three of the Spurs series, which would provide a wonderful narrative for ESPN and leave the suits at TNT gnashing their teeth. For now, the links:

Continuing with the love, R.R. Magellan who has cranked out so many great previews and recaps here this season, tells why Orlando should ship Dwight out – courtesy The No Look Pass.

I had resolved not to pimp out yesterday’s self-indulgence but if we can beat the Spurs on Friday, I’ll leave Sager in fantasy land for the rest of the season.

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It feels more than a little strange to be looking at the last four games of the regular season. It has simply gone by too fast. Regardless, this is where we are. The Clippers have won four in a row, and are breathing down our necks for the third slot. I hope we take care of business the rest of the way, because personally, I’d rather face either Denver or Dallas, than Memphis in the first round.

24 responses to Wednesday Storylines

The box by quarter says the Spurs destroyed the 2nd and won the 3rd handily. Whereas Brown’s middle name might not be Mephisto, I don’t see what value that extra beat down time could have benefitted the people who are already in rotation.”

I watched the game and didn’t see Gluck on the bench and when they panned up and down, Bill and Stu commented they didn’t see Gluck either even though their paperwork showed he was supposed to be suited up.

In garbage time, the only member of the regular rotation out there was Barnes. Even Hill got run. So Brown did empty the bench.

Media talking heads are going ape over “Pop” and the Spurs win last nite. Then if Lakers beat Spurs on Friday …. media talking heads will say Spurs are preparing for playoffs.

Spurs will not win west. They can’t beat Memphis, OKC, Lakers and probably the Clippers. Spurs system works well in regular season where its play a game then on to next the team. Playoffs … Not so much when teams can prepare for how the Spurs play.

Last nite aside. Not worried about Spurs in playoffs.
OKC and Memphis are the concerns.
Maybe Clippers will bounce OKC and make things moot.

Popovich prepared for this game and rested his big 3 prior to Lakers game so he wants to send a message that Lakers do not necessarily own the Spurs. Of course, we could not entirely blame Mbrown in as much he’s not actually playing the game, he’s just directing. In the end, the responsibility goes to players on the court. One thing we have been saying over and over again, this team is not a closer, a consistent and matured crew who knows what to do at any time, plus of course they’re short of talent in other areas. It’s time to give credit to the Spurs Big 3 especially Parker.

The biggest problem of the Lakers last night was Parker and he was roasting the Lakers in the 2nd quarter. How can you neutralize Parker? Blake was a failure and so was Sessions, Parker blew them up w/ p&r, mid shots, perimeter shots, lay ups. Lakers has no answer to the apparent problem. Will that happen during the playoffs? It will, and team scouts have include these things as Lakers weaknesses on a transition defense or penetrating PG’s like Parker, Westbrook, CP3 and Conley. Therefore, Lakers has to solve those apparent problems now and don’t ignore those symptoms.

Lastly, aren’t the Coach or F/O lucky that fans are involved in critiquing the game. Yes, the bloggers may not all be qualified to offer their observations but there are a hundred thinking heads offering some solutions compared to none during the time of West and Baylor. Oftentimes, a timid Coach or the problematic player gets roasted. Personally, it could hurt one’s ego but don’t get mad, a good Coach should pick up some ideas on what is being said. Fans are good observers, that’s why companies conduct market research in order to gauge consumer pulse.

Could fans have been so happy the Lakers were getting a major upgrade over Fisher that we looked past the fact Sessions is no more than a serviceable PG. His impact is far greater than Fisher’s to a certain degree but he’s not a elite pg.

LOL at criticism of Brown not calling a timeout. If Phil doesn’t call a timeout, he’s lauded for letting the players figure it out. Even if it costs them a game because it’ll pay off later.

Brown doesn’t, he’s a bad coach. But yet people always say Brown and other coaches should emulate what Phil did in building teams.

But then people complain that Brown doesn’t rest his starters like Pop does. I’m sure if Brown does rest his starters, people will complain he gave up.

This is in the same vein as people complaining Brown is a bad coach at drawing up plays. But, when he doesn’t call a timeout at the end of the game and let’s the players go on the fly, it’s a bad thing. But if he’s such a bad coach at drawing up plays, then why stop and let the D set up. Let the players attack before the D gets settled.

Brown can’t win. He’s damned either way. The quickest way to failure is to listen to everyone and try to please everyone. Understand your vision and follow it.

He isn’t the perfect coach but the many of the criticisms of him are weak and obscures more valid discussion points.

Dave M,
I’ve been counting them out for years… As for good reason. They are out. They haven’t been in a championship hunt for what now… Four years? All of the sudden they are older and worse and they are contenders? I just don’t see it. They are too small and not good enough offensively to win in the post season. You also need low post pkayers to win in the playoffs… Something they haven’t had since Tim Duncan was alive. They won’t get out of the first round if they have to play someone other than Houston.

chownoir: The same criticism of brown today are the same as in cleveland. I’ve continuely said Brown calls timeouts after teams get all the momentum in games instead of stopping some of the momentum with a timeout. Windhorst wrote for Cleveland for all brown’s years and at the time of the hire he said it wasn’t good for the Lakers.

” The quickest way to failure is to listen to everyone and try to please everyone..”

Brown is a good coach shouldn’t get the blame for everything. Has handled the distractions well. But this team isn’t playing like a eastern conference team and the PnR defense is no different than last year. The negatives outweigh the positives.

All I want is for a reporter to ask Brown what he sees in the Sessions-Blake combo. That’s all I ask. Does he have some strange statistical system that says that’s a productive combination? Or is he really just going with vet over a young player regardless of production, under the assumption that the vet will hold strong under playoff pressure (as his quotes so far have seemed to indicate)? Even if that’s the case, why doesn’t he give Barnes all that backup 2 time?

It’s just curious to me. If the eye test and the numbers suggest that lineup is not productive, I’d at least like a reporter to ask Brown to hear his side of the story and understand his thinking.

Interesting report from Woj: Ray Allen was apparently notified he was traded to Memphis for OJ Mayo, and then 10 minutes later Doc Rivers called him back and told him the deal fell through. Similar to what happened to Odom/Pau.

Thanks for your further elaboration on the bench’s run. As I’ve cited ESPN’s box (which isn’t always accurate), I’ll note that it said Hill & Morris ran with 4 minutes each. If that’s accurate and the flow of the game was as described then I would have liked the box to show that the bench warmers got a lot more time. If that’s not realistic, so be it. No sweat.

I hear what you’re saying, but there’s also truth in what @20 anonymous wrote, about their younger players. Not so much truth in the ‘eating crow’ statement, haha. My hope of course, is that the Lakers tread on the Spurs’ dreams. But, I live in Austin now and I’ve watched a ton of Spurs games on local TV, and they’re a better team than they were last year. IMO.

It’s ok to let teams start on runs if you ave Kobe or Fisher out there. Not going to work when rbe names are Blake, Barnes, Andrew etc.

Just like he chose not to call time out in regulation aganist Dallas and his team never even hit the rim.

This us called knowing your personal and Brown clearly doesn’t.

Aaron you opinion of Spurs and the best coach in the NBA is laughable. Spurs have 6 other players that could start on most team in addition to their big threeand were missing one of the better subs last night.

Guys like Neal, Jackson,Green, Blair, Leonard and Bonner would all be our best player coming off the bench. Murphy, McRoberts and Blake would not make Pops team never less get playing time.

Either you are living in a severe world of Purple and Gold fantasy world or you were being poorly sarcastic. Spurs are one of the top 3 in the NBA and will end up in the WCF with either OKC or Lakers. Willing to bet Pop would not sleep on a 18-0 run or play Blake and Sessions together.